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Saturday, Nov 7, 2009
Claire Fontaine
Published Letters: 259 Editor's Choice: 18
I read the JT Leroy article this morning. Then I had to google JT Leroy and find a real article to explain to me who the hell he was. I spent the rest of the day feeling vaguely frustrated and annoyed, the fragments of the poorly written Salon article bumping around in my brain, trying to re-arrange themselves into something coherent.
So, finally, at nearly 3 a.m., I came back to the site to read the letters and see if anyone else was as confused and annoyed as I was. The first letter I saw mentioned Ayelet Waldman. I frantically paged up to see if she had indeed been the writer of the misbegotten article. Ah, sweet relief! She was! That explains it all. Now I can go to sleep.
I just wanted to tell Anonymous that she can always change back. I don't know what state she lives in, but it probably costs about $200 and can be done at the local courthouse. You might be able to get publication waived if you ask, since you'd only be changing back to a recently used former name. Then just send out announcements to everyone and there you are.
Here's an idea I've seen people use, put his surname as a middle or second middle name, for example: Jane Hislast Yourlast. He can do the same if he, and that would probably be included for free in your own name change petition
There have been a few posts on this thread saying that a woman who gives her child her last name is really only passing on her father's last name. So I was wondering, how does a woman get a last name? I mean, a baby boy is born with one, and nobody disputes that it's his own. Yet a disturbing number of people seem to see even a thirty-year-old woman as still only having her father's name.
It is quite awful to think of myself as only having a first name (that pesky middle name can, of course, always be discarded for my "father's name", if I take my husband's father's father's father's name as a surname).
Look, most people's last name came from a distant ancestor, quite possibly a woman (Baxter means female baker) or a couple who chose or were both given a surname at the same time. Just because most names are passed down through the paternal line does not mean that it has been or should always be thus, nor does it mean that a woman does not possess her own last name.
Oh, I should mention my family. My parents chose a new last name together and gave it to all their children. I've kept my last name, and my husband hyphenated his. Our children will have my name, as it's our family name now.
Massachusetts Elder Abuse Hot Line: 1-800-922-2275. It's answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It can't hurt to call and talk to somebody.
Google baby reborn dolls. They're kinda cute, kinda eerie, and very expensive.
Btw, what was the Howe/Abbott baby eventually named? Based on the list in the article, I'll guess Nathaniel Stephen Abbott-Howe. Was I close?
"For those women who don't care about the Hallmark holiday (or at least pretend not to care and then try to ignore the voice of disappointment when Feb. 14 passes as just another day..."
I really _don't_ care about Valentine's Day. My husband and I didn't get each other anything in past years, and don't intend to waste money on anything this year either. I never understood the whole, "look what my husband bought for me!" thing anyway. If the woman makes money, why should she be all giddy like a schoolgirl when her husband presents her with an expensive piece of jewelry? She paid half for it. The only way it could matter is if he chose a particularly romantic time and an extremely thoughtful gift. That would be special, and could be free (origama, a poem, wildflowers).
I do bring my husband flowers on occasion, and he brings me chocolate sometimes. Not on Hallmark approved holidays, but when we think of it.
It says that the Friedan article is more relevant to our lives than the Ali article. Should we have a vote on the very worst problem in the world and then only discuss that?
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The Maine fight was supposed to be the dress rehearsal for repealing California's Prop. 8 -- but gay marriage lost
Once one obtains Seriousness credentials in the Washington media, they are irrevocable no matter one's conduct.
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